There are many ways you can save on your mechanic repairs. Picture: Thinkstock Source: News Limited

NOWADAYS, people are holding onto their car longer than ever before so this means that a trip to their mechanic is inevitable.

The majority of mechanics are trustworthy but now and again you will run into a dodgy one that will charge you a premium for their services or tell you need to “fix” things that are working just fine.

So how can you tell if you are overpaying on your car service or repair? This is how ...

KNOWLEDGE

As the saying goes “knowledge is power”, and this is especially true when it’s time to get your car repaired or serviced. If you have some basic knowledge about how your car works, what symptoms to look out for and the average price to get a repair or service then you should be able to work out if you have been overpaying.

Not everyone is a mechanic so right now you are probably thinking “how do I learn the basics about car maintenance”. One of the easiest ways is look online for information. There are thousands of websites that teach you how your cars work and also how to tell what problems your car has based on its symptoms.

After you know exactly what is going on with your car you can have a good idea on the price to get it fixed.

DISCUSS ANY PROBLEMS WITH YOUR MECHANIC

Now that you already have some knowledge about your car and what you need to fix it, the next step is to discuss this with your mechanic. Basically, the more you know the better off you will be. If you know what exactly is the problem with your car you can discuss this with your mechanic and you have less chance of overpaying. It’ll show that you have done your homework and you know what you are talking about.

Does this scene look familiar?Source: ThinkStock

The worst thing you can do is discuss a possible mechanical problem without any idea of what’s wrong. That puts you in a vulnerable position because the mechanic knows you’re clueless. So know your car and discuss this with your mechanic, show him or her how much you know.

RESEARCH HOW MUCH YOUR REPAIRS COST

The easiest way to do this again is get online. Before the internet, consumers had to accept the rate a mechanic was charging, but that is no longer the case. There are many mechanic websites that give you the ability to find out almost exactly how much you should be paying for a particular repair.

One of the big problems with getting your car fixed is that you feel pressure to agree to whatever the mechanic is diagnosing because you don’t want to be without your car. But experts say you need to step back and research to ensure you are getting a fair price before moving forward.

MAKE THE MECHANIC SHOW YOU THE PARTS

Every so often you will run into a mechanic that will try to milk some extra money out of you for work that is not needed, poor quality or overpriced. One trick up the sleeves of these mechanics is to charge you for parts that are of poor quality, possibly even second hand, or they might not even replace the parts at all.

Don’t let on that you have no idea what your mechanic is talking about.Source: News Limited

The best way to counter this trick is to simply say this “can you please put the old part inside the box of the new part”. This way you don’t have to wait around and watch them as they replace the part in your car, we all have better things we can be doing. This way you can view your old part that has been taken out of your car, you can see that the mechanic has opened and taken out a part of a new box and the mechanic can also tell that you know about his tricks which will deter him from providing dodgy services.

GET A VARIETY OF QUOTES

When getting other repairs for your home or for any other work most people get a variety of quotes but when it comes to auto repairs they don’t usually do this. Well they should. Car repairs can be more expensive and fluctuate more than most home maintenance depending on which mechanic you go to. Getting as many quotes as possible is important if you want save money. This is especially true when it is a large repair.

One way of doing this is to look up online all your local mechanics, give them a call and explain to them what is wrong with your car, or take it in for them to look at. The problem with this way is that this is time consuming as there may be many mechanics in your area and we all know we don’t want to spend all day trying to find a decent quote. Another way is to go online and post the details and pictures or your car repair. There are websites which offer car repair quoting services. Your car repair job gets sent out to all the mechanics near you from the comfort of your own home and compare all the quotes and mechanics.

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